WhatsApp sometimes depends on the smartphone tackle e book it runs on to carry and handle contacts. However that may be an issue for customers who lose their gadget and fail to again up their telephone’s contacts, individuals who share telephones, or those that handle a number of accounts with separate contacts on one gadget.
To start out, you’ll be capable of save contacts on WhatsApp Net and Home windows and Meta says that you just’ll “ultimately” have the option to take action on different linked gadgets. Contacts saved in WhatsApp use a brand new “privacy-preserving” storage expertise known as Identity Proof Linked Storage (IPLS) that Meta explains retains names and numbers encrypted and might solely be accessed by the consumer.
In an electronic mail to The Verge, press consultant for WhatsApp Jessica Maskell wrote that the brand new contacts characteristic shall be adopted by a brand new username system the place telephone numbers received’t be required. Different end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Sign have additionally added a telephone number-free possibility for utilizing the app.
